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Separation never seems to be a good thing for most people. It’s like the Grim Reaper to personal relationships and the recipe for war to those in political office.

But for your lead generation campaign, it might actually be an all-new selling point and the birth of better value proposition to your prospects. To demonstrate, here’s a look on how a complete break-up worked to benefit the conflict between Samsung and Apple.

Whether you watched the first debut of the Dinobots in the original series or the whole of Transformers 4, both tell a story of creations going out of control. And likewise, the same can happen if you put too much faith in marketing automation. Like any part of your lead generation campaign, your marketing tools are still your responsibility and should remain completely under your control.

Given that it’s hot. The days are longer. It shouldn’t be surprising when even prospects in the office are more prone to browsing things like marketing content at a slower pace.

Why then is your B2B marketing campaign not taking this chance to change? If stock market investors have their own business-related summer plans, then so should your marketers. Given all the free time it’s supposed to entail, it’s not that hard figuring out a content strategy that would fit the lazier state of mind it creates.

Plan this early – If summer is such a hard time for your B2B marketing department then treat like a storm: prepare before it gets there. Find ways to survive the slow sales. Plan for the fall campaign. Outsource it and go on vacation. No matter what, the point is you need to start making plans now.

Use brighter colors – What do you do when you start packing for the beach? What catches your eye more often? Is it the swimsuit sale? Getaway packages? In case you didn’t notice, plenty of them make use of bright colors that go with the sunny season. Your local mall shouldn’t be the only business that tries to leave an eye-catching impression.

Make it like ice-cream – Whether its ice cream or lemonade, the heat’s more bearable with something cool in your mouth. Same principle applies when the summer lazy haze starts giving prospects a headache. Maybe instead of the usual white paper, do something a little more refreshing like a funny story or a funny infographic.

Set matching appointments – Instead of the usual conference room, why not use sales appointments as an excuse to get both yourself and your prospects out of the office? Or if you’re hosting an event, why not set it someplace cozy like near a beach instead of the usual convention hall?

Unlike winter or Easter, summer’s arguably the season when even professionals and managers have a lot more free time. Make that the key to blending the themes of your marketing campaign with the season. Try making things a little more relaxed but when they’re in their relaxed state of mind, make it easier for yourself to turn them into your next client.

Now past its second week, the 2014 FIFA World Cup has all the world’s attention. But along with it, you have its biggest sponsors: McDonald’s.

Labeling itself the World Cup’s “official restaurant,” it’s certainly a prime example of all out marketing. From its entire menu theme to inspiring ads and youth programs, it’s a wonder how a single brand can tie itself to something that seems actually quite unrelated to its tie-in event.

How do they pull it off? Is it through the food? Player endorsements? Sheer branding power?

It may not actually be all these things. Maybe, it’s because McDonald’s really just has a way of identifying itself with most people. McDonald’s has been famous for a huge share of ads that just really get people connecting not just with the brand but also with each other. Connecting though isn’t just something you can accomplish with consumer advertising. Even B2B marketers can (and should) score for the same goal.

Focus is a lot harder to come by when your brain is tired. It’s harder to make connections, grasp concepts, and ultimately creates regrettable decisions more often than not.

How much worse when that brain represents your entire B2B lead generation process? This process is all about creating and maintaining strong relationships with prospects (even after they convert into customers). That means you’ll need all the talents and manpower necessary for successful B2B marketing. Unfortunately, you can’t always muster enough of these resources at a time. And if marketing’s not even your niche, that’s all the more likely.

Those new to the idea of outsourced lead generation don’t always know enough about what the real perks are. They also have a loose idea of how little control they may seem to have over their sales leads and appointments.

The truth is the benefits of outsourcing any process are universal. Businesses big and small even outsource more than one in order to multiply this advantage.

Father’s Day is a tradition. And like the day itself, many Dads aspire to pass something on to their children. That includes their own business.

Speaking of which though, how can the idea of passing something down impact your B2B lead generation strategy? This usually implies an image of longevity, meaning yours is a company that’s been around since the time of its founder. How did other old brands maintain themselves as their figurative torch passed down generation after generation?

Father’s Day doesn’t just celebrate biological ones. They include all father figures whether they’re uncles, grandfathers, teachers, and of course, bosses.

They’re the authority who wears the pants in the family, sets down the drafts of the rules, and traditionally commands the most respect. It can be assumed that plenty of males in senior management position are already fathers so don’t be surprised if they literally get their skills from the home front.

And with Father’s Day, expect gifts to be going around. But while everyone’s getting them golf clubs, evenings out, and gift certificates, how can B2B marketers reward the fatherly men in their prospect lists?

June 6 marks the day Allied soldiers descended on the beaches of Normandy on what is popularly known today as D-Day: the operation that turned the tides of the Second World War and ended the great conflict. As preparations are being made to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the landings, B2B marketers can do their part by learning the tactics which brought about D-Day’s success.

Back then, the main objective of the Allied powers was not the capture of all the landing points but rather to land in a small area, establish a beachhead, and expand from that point. For marketers, it’s basic entry strategy. You don’t just go for the entire market. You start at a particular niche, your beachhead, and start expanding your company’s own army of sales, employees, and assorted marketers.

Infantry and Mechanized Landings – Gaining Trust

In most cases, it’s easier to get a minor commitment first instead of starting with a major commitment because you can just simply work your way from the former to the latter. How do you do this in marketing? You simply establish rapport and use lead nurturing to establish trust over time. You don’t pitch your entire solution but gradually engage with them long enough to fill them in on it.

Naval Artillery Support – Demand Generation

To support the element of surprise on the German defense line, thousands of Allied naval ships helped the incoming infantry with artillery bombardments along the shores and further inland to eliminate or suppress enemy artillery and personnel.

In a way, those destroyers are akin to demand generation activities. You don’t want the competition sealing you out by consuming their territorial share of prospect attention.

Examples of this approach can include websites full of regular blog posts or sending newsletters in exchange for contact information. This will keep prospect attention on your business and support additional engagement efforts.

The Secured Beachhead – Sustainability

Despite victory at the beachhead, the Allies failed to achieve other objectives on the actual date of the landings. Hesitant decisions from supporting air and artillery support compromised the elements of surprise and helped the Nazi strongholds prepare for a better defense line.

But still, it was thanks to maintaining that little shore that the infantry managed to spread control. B2B marketers should maintain their own line if they hope to expand into deeper market territory. That includes having sustainability and reduced overhead.

Airborne Landings and Support – Inside Influence

It was the largest naval invasion in history so air support was also a critical factor against the German occupied defense line. Airborne troops paradropped behind enemy lines so that their offense ensured the attacks were now from all sides. In a sense, this is simply a quicker version of planting spies prior to wartime.

Marketers apply both forms when they gain influence from within the industry. Think of ways to drop in on critical industry influencer and win them over from inside the market. This also works with individual prospect companies. Find an insider who can vouch for your company from inside their organization and open their doors to you.

Finally, know that this land-and-expand strategy works best when you’re too preoccupied with always generating new customers. As always, B2B marketers and sales reps should follow the 80/20 rule. If it was good enough for the D-Day veterans, it should be good enough for you!

Summer usually means people heading out to the next tropical getaway. But increasingly, people are still finding themselves at work even on vacation. Throw in addictive internet technology, endless streams of notifications, emails, and calls. Is this what you’d call unplugged? Unplugging from your lead generation campaign doesn’t automatically mean the end of it if you’re prepared to put in safety measures and resist all forms of temptation to keep checking on in the office.

Sure you have the occasional emergency. But how can you call it occasional when you’re expecting it more than half the time?

Give advance notice, including to outsourced companies – If you’re working in any sales position, let your marketers know in advance that you won’t be making any appointments for an extended period of time. If you’ve outsourced your lead generation and marketing processes, it might even be better to let them know weeks before you take off. On a side note, get them to set some appointments for you in advance as well so that you’ll have some work when you get back.

Get your current workload done – By the time you get back, you obviously wouldn’t want any unfinished work piling up on any new tasks or engagements. Therefore, finish as much as you can. You can stop your lead generators from setting appointments after a certain date but why cancel the ones they’ve already qualified?

Have only one emergency contact – You’ll need someone to stand guard over your emergency to number. Why? Well obviously to make sure it’s only used for emergencies. If you expect such emergencies to happen more often than not, then something is seriously wrong with your contingency plan.

Leave a decent message behind– Create a sort of response template that your marketers and appointment setters can use to explain your absence. Your prospects already do the same with their gatekeepers so why should you be any different? On the other hand, make it more polite and have it express your eagerness to do business once you get back.

Disable all other channels – If you really want to a bit extreme, eliminate all other means of contacting you from work. Make it so that the emergency contact is your only means of communication.

You’d want to make the most of your vacation so it’s only natural that you’d go and try to remove all sorts of work-related temptations. But perhaps the real thing you need to resist is the tendency to worry about the worst while you’re away. Create your contingency plans without it so that you won’t have it taking the place of your vacation ones.